District of Columbia Governance

A conservative watchdog, the Oversight Project, has filed an amicus brief urging a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to throw out the District’s lawsuit challenging President Trump’s National Guard deployment, arguing the city is legally part of the federal government and therefore "cannot sue itself." The group contends that because Congress created D.C. as a municipal corporation subordinate to the United States, any dispute over Guard control or other federal actions must be resolved politically through the president and Congress, not through Article III courts. The appeal arises from a suit D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed last September, claiming Trump’s extended 2025–2026 Guard deployment and federalized control over the D.C. police encroached on the District’s home‑rule powers. A three‑judge panel has already paused a lower‑court injunction against the administration, and two Trump‑appointed judges wrote separately that D.C. likely lacks standing, echoing the core of the watchdog’s argument. The case now tests both the limits of D.C.’s claimed quasi‑sovereignty and the breadth of presidential authority to deploy military forces in the capital, amid partisan fights over crime, immigration enforcement and federal control of "blue" cities.